Kobus Reichert
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| The Kouga region (Google Images) |
“Kouga” is a KhoiSan word meaning: “Hippopotamus River”. It is a region with an abundance of archaeological sites and cultural artefacts linked to the first inhabitants of the land. The oldest evidence of the early inhabitants are large stone tools, called hand axes and cleavers, which can be found in the river gravels which capped the hill slopes in the region. These large stone tools are from a time period called the Earlier Stone Age and may date between 1 million and 250 000 years old. These large stone tools are often found associated with the gravels in the area, and were later replaced by smaller stone tools called the Middle Stone Age (MSA) flake and blades industries. Evidence of MSA sites occur throughout the region and date between 120 000 and 30 000 years old.
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Sunset over the Klasies River
Caves. Photo: Kobus Reichert.
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The Klasies River caves, a mere 100 km’s to the west of Humansdorp, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. The oldest human remains discovered in one of the caves are dated to 110 000 years old and are among the oldest known remains of modern people in the world. This discovery provides a lot of support to the theory that 100 000 years ago modern man emerged in Sub-Saharan Africa and later dispersed to Eurasia.
The first known cultural group who lived in the area was the San people. Archaeological evidence shows that they lived in the caves and rock shelters of the region as far as back as 20 000 years ago, many of which still display paintings on the walls known as Rock Art. They were hunter-gatherers who often visited the coast in search of sea food such as mussels, alikreukel and a variety of other shellfish. They are also the closest relatives to the first inhabitants of the Klasies River caves.
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Traditional Khoi-Khoi clay pot from the Kabeljous
area in Jeffreys Bay. Photo: J.N.F Binneman.
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Khoi-Khoi pastoralists moved into the area about 2000 years ago. They were genetically the same as the San people but culturally diverse. They were the first food producers and introduced domesticated animals (goats, sheep and cattle) to the area as well as pottery. They also created rock art paintings, but to a lesser extent and with a different style. They also lived along the coastline and utilized marine resources when they lost their cattle due to disease or conflict.
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A shell midden exposed in
a dune near Cape St. Francis. Photo: Kobus Reichert
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The entire South-African coastline is dotted with shell middens and the Kouga region is no exception. They are relatively large piles of marine shell and are popularly referred to as ‘strandloper middens’. In general these shell middens date from the past 6 000 years. They are found mainly opposite rocky coasts, but also occur along sandy beaches if there was a large enough source of white mussel. These concentrations of shell represent the campsites of San hunter-gatherers (dating from as old as 6 000 years ago), Khoi pastoralists and KhoiSan (dating from the past 1 800 in the region) peoples who lived along the immediate coast and collected marine foods.
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| Kabeljous River Mouth. Photo: Google Images |
The oldest sheep remains recovered from the middens near the Kabeljous River Mouth were radiocarbon dated to 1 560 years old - the oldest date for the presence of sheep in the Eastern Cape. Shell middens are usually within 300 of the high water mark, but can be found up to 5 km inland. Mixed with the shell and other marine food waste are other terrestrial food remains, cultural material and often human remains are found buried in the middens. Also associated with middens are large stone floors which were probably used as cooking platforms.
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| Fish traps at Thyspunt near Oysterbay. Photo: Kobus Reichert |
The only known fish traps in the Eastern Cape similar to those in Stil Bay are situated at Thyspunt near Oyster Bay. Fish traps are stone wall structures that the KhoiSan created hundreds of years ago to catch fish at spring low tide, during the dark moon phase, mostly in the winter months.
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| A skeleton disturbed by building activities in St. Francis Bay. Photo: Kobus Reichert. |
Sometimes traditional burials are exposed in the dune field by wind action with several discoveries reported from Oyster Bay, Rebelsrus, Cape St. Francis, and Kabeljous. Burials are also often exposed during construction activities. At Andrieskraal near Patensie a number of human skeletons were discovered with the digging of the water canal in earlier years. The Albany Museum today has close to 400 KhoiSan skeletons in their collection.
The first re-burial of a pre-historic skeleton in the Eastern Cape took place during a full moon ceremony at the farm Papiesfontein near Jeffreys Bay in 2008 after the local KhoiSan tribe successfully claimed the remains after years of negotiations with the South African Heritage Resources Authority.
In general the archaeological sites in the region are not well preserved and are vulnerable because there are no measures in place to protect them. People who visit these sites often do not realize the importance of these cultural treasures and some sites have been vandalized to such an extent that they are lost to future generations forever.
All archaeological sites, including rock paintings or engravings are protected by the South African Heritage Resources Act, no. 25 of 1999. Visitors to the area should be aware that the unauthorized visiting of any of these sites, causing damage to or the removal of any material from such sites is illegal.
